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Can you elaborate on why you'd rather be poor today than rich 20 years ago (~1995) ?

• vinceguidry 11y ago
  Essentially, it boils down to how effective I can be with my time. I can be far more productive today, using modern information tools, than I ever could have in the mid-nineties. It's not just a function of experience, in 1995 I'd already had like 8 years of exposure to computers and programming. The main barriers I had to success were in knowing what to do and how to do it. Now, there are practically no informational barriers at all. I've shifted from looking for options to take to sifting through all the available, great ones. The quality of what you can find on the Internet these days is just mind-bogglingly better. What this means is that time spent 20 years ago is worth less than time spent now. And since time is far more valuable than money, there isn't an amount of money you could throw at me to make me yearn for those old days. I use the similar logic to come to the conclusion that I'd rather be a lower-class American than a Chinese billionaire. I'd actually rather be a middle class Chinese than a Chinese billionaire, if only because that means I could move to the States. Everything I've read about these people indicate myopic, ugly personalities. The social fluidity of the US is worth more money than I could ever imagine, as increasing the value of time spent is worth more than any amount of money.